Jan Chozen Bays (born August 9, 1945), is a

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

teacher, author, mindful eating educator, and

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

specializing in work with abused children.

Biography

Jan Chozen Bays was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on August 9, 1945. She grew up in

East Greenbush, New York East Greenbush is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of Albany. The population was 16,748 at the 2020 census. The word Greenbush is derived from the Dutch ''het groen bosch,'' referring to the pine woods that or ...

and spent two years in Korea. She received her undergraduate degree at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

and earned her medical degree at the University of California at San Diego, specializing in pediatrics. Bays began practicing Zen in a group that included Charlotte Joko Beck, Anne Seisen Saunders, and Jerry Shishin Wick in San Diego. She eventually moved to the

Zen Center of Los Angeles The Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA), temple name Buddha Essence Temple, is a Zen center founded by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi in 1967 that practices in the White Plum lineage. ZCLA observes a daily schedule of zazen, Buddhist services, and work pr ...

to study with the Japanese Zen teacher

Taizan Maezumi Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi ( Maezumi Hakuyū, February 24, 1931 – May 15, 1995) was a Japanese people, Japanese Sōtō Zen, Zen Buddhist priest who substantially contributed to development of Zen in the United States. In 1956 he was sent to the Uni ...

Roshi. She had an extramarital affair with him, which she admitted, which devastated his wife and children. She served as the physician at the Zen Center’s community medical clinic. She was a student of Maezumi from 1977 until his death in 1995. She received dharma transmission from him in 1983 becoming his 4th dharma heir and, after Joko Beck, the second woman. With her husband Laren Hogen Bays, since 1985 she has been a teacher at the Zen Community of Oregon, a Zen center or

sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Chozen and Hogen Bays are also co-founders and co-abbots of Great Vow Zen Monastery of

Clatskanie, Oregon Clatskanie () is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for the Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie language, Tlatskanai Native American tribe, and the Clatskanie River which flows through the town and empties ...

, which opened in 2002. From 1990 until the present she has trained with Shodo Harada, a

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen teacher. In 2011, Bays founded Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon.

Child abuse expert

Bays is a pediatrician and nationally recognized expert on child abuse. In the 1980s and 1990s, she conducted the medical examinations of thousands of infants and children who had been abused or killed and regularly appeared in court as an expert witness. In 1987, she helped to found Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services (CARES) Northwest, now one of the oldest and largest child abuse assessment centers in the United States.

Bibliography

*Bays, Jan Chozen (2003). ''Jizo Bodhisattva: Guardian of Children, Travelers, and Other Voyagers''. Shambhala Publications. * * *Bays, Jan Chozen (2014). ''Mindfulness on the Go: Simple Meditation Practices You Can Do Anywhere''. Shambhala Publications. . *Bays, Jan Chozen (2016). ''The Vow-Powered Life: A Simple Method for Living with Purpose''.

Shambhala Publications Shambhala Publications is an Independent publisher, independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the societ ...

. . *Bays MD, Jan Chozen (2022). Mindful Medicine: 40 Simple Practices to Help Healthcare Professionals Heal Burnout and Reconnect to Purpose.

. ISBN 9781645470526.

Gallery

Image:Jan Chozen Bays and Kaz Tanahashi.jpg, with

Kaz Tanahashi is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts from Japanese and Chinese to English, most notably works by Dogen (he began his translation of '' Shobogenzo'' in his twenties). He first met Shunry ...

Image:Hogen Bays & Koen Sensei.jpg, husband Hogen Bays Image:Hogens Bays, Paul Genki Kahn, Jan Chozen Bays.jpg, Hogen, Paul Genki Kahn, and Chozen

References

External links